This is my final blog until next semester. This has been an amazing experience and I have grown exponentially in my IT experience since I started this internship. The entire staff that I have had the privilege to work with have been amazing in mentoring me and guiding me in what I want to do with my IT degree. The more I’ve learned, the less I realize I know about IT. I do know I want to specialize in the areas of, security, project management, and teaching IT.

This final week, I’ve been closing out tickets and minor assignments such as security patches. Most of my time this week was spent learning new things specifically in security. I’ve learned how networks are secured with DMZs and more lessons on cryptography. It was also fun to revisit the OSI model and network ports again. I entered this internship in the pursuit of gaining more IT knowledge and I believe I have accomplished that ten-fold. I would like to thank Dr. Voortman of Point Park for his encouragement as well as my mentor, Sheila, and the rest of the IT staff at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. This internship has has been a very valuable learning experience on my journey to become an IT professional.